Exactly. They just hand nobody to take the ball every fifth day. That September included the Andrew Miller starting pitcher experiment, Erik Bedard, Wakefield coasting to the finish line of his career, Kyle Weiland and an injured Lackey that needed TJS.
He was really good the 3 years before they acquired him. I think they just didn't put too much on him because he was older.
2010-12: 143 Innings, 181 K, 11.42 k/9, 1.07 bb/9, 2.40 ERA, 2.50 xFIP
Even the dropoff in 05 and 06 was to be expected. 2011 was a disappointment, but I don't think the ballclub needed to be imploded afterwards. Clearly they were able to use that core and win a WS two years later with a worse manager.
Larry was good at his job and knew baseball. Sam is just the used car salesman guy. Useless. Everyone saw the value in Larry even if they wanted Theo to be left alone. Sam?
In 2018, the Sox didn't have the best record in the AL East from the beginning of the season on. There were 12 days when they weren't in 1st place, even as late as June 26th. On July 1, they were still tied with the Yanks for possession of 1st place.
2003 really sucked, but I don't think it lingered the way other seasons did. Even the replays of the Boone walkoff didn't bother me after the fact. I was just really pissed off that night.
2011 was just frustrating the month of September to see it all fall apart. It was just witnessing the end of the Theo/Tito era. Just kind of sad in a different way.